Disease spreads as Syria casualties and drug shortages grow-WHO

* Hepatitis, diarrhoea spreading via dirty water, WHO says

* Syria seeking serum, other drugs to treat trauma victims

* Humanitarian crisis now deemed catastrophic, U.N. says

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA, Feb 5 Dirty water diseases are spreading
in Syria, compounding the problems of hospitals that are
perilously short of medicine and doctors after nearly two years
of fighting, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.

The Health Ministry has run out of trauma treatments made in
factories in rebel areas to help the increasing numbers of burns
victims and wounded civilians in intensive care units, it said.

That is assuming patients can reach treatment in the first
place. Many surgeons have fled, many hospitals are closed and
most ambulances are either damaged or are being used by both
sides as a clandestine way to transport fighters, the WHO said.

"The biggest concern for us is the breakdown of the water
and sanitation system and the increasing numbers of water-borne
diseases," WHO representative Elisabeth Hoff told a news
briefing about the deteriorating health situation on the ground.

Hepatitis A, a viral liver disease that can cause explosive
epidemics, has been reported in Aleppo, Idlib - where there has
been intense fighting - and some crowded shelters for the
homeless in the capital, she said by telephone from Damascus.

Aid groups have had to start using alternatives to purify
water because the import of chlorine gas has been banned over
fears it could be misused as a chemical weapon.

The U.N. Children's Fund, UNICEF, began importing sodium
hydrochloride, a liquid used for water purification, via Jordan
on Sunday, spokeswoman Marixie Mercado told the same briefing.

"The problem is chlorine gas is a chemical that can harm
populations if it is not used correctly," Hoff added.

Heavy fighting between the forces of President Bashar
al-Assad and rebels trying to topple him could swell the ranks
of the 4 million who already need urgent assistance in Syria and
2 million internally displaced in the past two years.

"The catastrophic humanitarian crisis continues to deepen,"
Jens Laerke, spokesman of the U.N. Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs, told the briefing.

"We are operating mostly out of government-controlled areas,
that doesn't mean we don't deliver in opposition-controlled
areas. Frontlines are changing, it is fluid situation," he said.

BURNS VICTIMS

Hoff said she could see black smoke from every corner of
Damascus. "Rural Damascus, with 4 million people, is now heavily
embroiled in the conflict," she said.

She said she had visited a burns hospital in the capital
which receives patients from all over the country. "There is an
enormous amount of patients now, so they had to open a new
section because burns are affecting the civilian population.

"These explosions are taking place and hitting into highly
populated areas. You see a number of children and women with
serious burns," she said.

However, Hoff said the government could not access a factory
in Aleppo that produces serum to help such trauma patients,
because the road is controlled by the opposition. The Ministry
of Health has requested 150,000 units of serum from the WHO.

"The factory has the serum which is needed for operations,
for trauma and for injured, but they cannot access it because 3
km (2 miles) of the road between the factory and the city is
totally controlled by the opposition," Hoff said.

Syrian military planes carrying doses of vaccine against
measles and polio were shot at last week in Aleppo, she said.

"So we are now trying to see how we can set up a convoy and
negotiate also with the opposition to try to get this in, not
only to the public hospitals but also to the non-governmental
organisations," she said.

More than half of Syria's public hospitals have been damaged
and more than a third of them are out of service, Hoff said.
Most of the surgeons in Homs have left the embattled province.

"The problem is that many surgeons are leaving many of the
heavily affected governorates. Because some patients don't seek
treatment because of the security forces in the hospital, they
actually go to the homes of some of the surgeons and this led to
unfortunate incidents happening to these surgeons," she said.

Some 78 percent of Syria's ambulances are damaged, and more
than half of them are not functional, according to the WHO. But
as both sides are misusing ambulances to transport fighters, the
U.N. agency can no longer supply new vehicles, Hoff said.

"Women particularly come to hospitals, asking doctors for
medicines, broad-spectrum antibiotics and bandages, this is
giving a clear signal that patients are being looked after in
their homes," she said.
(Editing by Alison Williams)

ACCRA, Dec 9 Ghana's main opposition leader,
Nana Akufo-Addo, has won the West African country's presidential
election with an absolute majority over President John Mahama,
two influential private radio stations said on Friday.

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